A prominent Catholic anti-death penalty group is praising Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for his decision to commute the death sentence of a prisoner suffering from intellectual disabilities.
In May, DeWine quietly commuted the sentence of Gregory Lott, who killed a man in East Cleveland in 1986 by setting him on fire during a burglary.
DeWine did not publicly announce the commutation, which he issued several weeks before openly calling for an end to the death penalty in the state.
A former supporter of the death penalty, DeWine said during a June 16 press conference that the "moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists."
DeWine did not directly say during that press event if he would commute any death sentences, though reporters questioned him on the subject. The order to commute Lott's sentence had been filed in the state court system several days earlier.
The order cited a parole board recommendation that Lott's sentence be commuted, as well as findings that Lott is "intellectually disabled to a degree that would prohibit the imposition of the death penalty under current law."
The family members of Lott's victim, meanwhile, said they were "opposed to the implementation of the death penalty," according to the order.
A 'pro-life decision'
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of the anti-death penalty group Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in a June 25 statement that "no matter the harm one has caused or suffered, every person deserves the possibility of redemption."
Responding to DeWine's decision by exclaiming "Praise God!" Murphy said the commutation "underscores the governor's concern for those who are marginalized in our society."
She urged DeWine to "take further steps before leaving office toward commuting the death sentences of the more than 100 individuals who are currently on Ohio's death row."
Lott's efforts to avoid the death penalty took a winding path through both the state courts and the state executive system.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing condemned criminals who are intellectually disabled is unconstitutional.
Lott's attorneys appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court under that ruling, though the state court denied that claim, establishing what in judicial circles came to be known as "Lott's Test" for determining the threshold of intellectual disability.
Yet he was spared from being executed after Ohio's 2014 execution of Dennis McGuire, whom witnesses said visibly suffered while dying from the lethal injection that ultimately killed him. Then-Gov. John Kasich issued a moratorium on executions there that lasted for more than three years.
Stephen Ferrell, one of Lott's public defenders during his legal battles, told the Marshall Project that Lott "would have been executed a month [after McGuire]" without the moratorium in place.
"To me, that epitomizes the arbitrariness of this system," the lawyer said.
